Amazon To Cover Election Night As Jeff Bezos Faces Non-Endorsement Backlash

Amazon Prime Video has announced it will stream the U.S. election with former NBC News anchor Brian Williams, as Jeff Bezos faces backlash for The Washington Post’s decision not to endorse a presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years.

Bezos’ multi-trillion-dollar company released a trailer for its election coverage program, Election Night Live, on Prime Video on Friday, showing Williams inviting folks to “witness history together.”

On the same day, The Post, also owned by Bezos, published an article stating it would not endorse a candidate in the election this year, as it has done for nearly four decades, or in future presidential races. The newspaper’s editorial board has traditionally endorsed Democrats, backing Joe Biden in 2020 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 who were both up against Donald Trump.

The move triggered a severe backlash, with columnist and editor-at-large of the opinion section, Robert Kagan, resigning in protest, while a group of Post columnists co-signed an article condemning the decision.

Amazon Prime Video is hoping to offer non-partisanship, as was reported by Variety in September, citing five people familiar with the matter.

In the trailer, Williams says: “The collective voice of the American people is not quiet. In fact, it’s gloriously loud. Every voice counts, each of them matters. And on Election Night, those voices rise.

“Live from every corner of our country—we’re here to provide clarity and deliver what you need to know, when you need to know it—all of the coverage, all of the results, all in one place. So join me, let’s witness history together.”

Williams will be relying largely on the Associated Press for updates on how both candidates are doing in each state, Variety reported. The broadcaster is expected to bring on guests from across the country.

Non-partisanship was also a theme in the newspaper’s note on October 25, when publisher William Lewis wrote: “Our job at The Washington Post is to provide through the newsroom nonpartisan news for all Americans, and thought-provoking, reported views from our opinion team to help our readers make up their own minds.”

The publisher stated that not endorsing a presidential candidate was a return to the Post’s “roots,” as it had refrained from publishing an endorsement in the past, with some exceptions, including in 1952, when it endorsed General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and in 1976 when it endorsed Jimmy Carter.

Since then, the paper has been regularly endorsing presidential candidates, except in 1988, when it declined to choose between George H.W. Bush and Michael Dukakis.

“We recognize that this will be read in a range of ways, including as a tacit endorsement of one candidate, or as a condemnation of another, or as an abdication of responsibility. That is inevitable. We don’t see it that way,” Lewis said. “We see it as consistent with the values The Post has always stood for and what we hope for in a leader: character and courage in service to the American ethic, veneration for the rule of law, and respect for human freedom in all its aspects.”

He wrote: “We also see it as a statement in support of our readers’ ability to make up their own minds on this, the most consequential of American decisions—whom to vote for as the next president.”

In the condemnation letter, 18 Post opinions columnists responded, calling the decision a “terrible mistake.”

They wrote: “It represents an abandonment of the fundamental editorial convictions of the newspaper that we love. This is a moment for the institution to be making clear its commitment to democratic values, the rule of law and international alliances, and the threat that Donald Trump poses to them—the precise points The Post made in endorsing Trump’s opponents in 2016 and 2020.”

On Sunday, opinion writer Dana Milbank wrote a piece claiming that Bezos “in effect, directed the newspaper not to publish its endorsement of Kamala Harris.”

Milbank said: “It’s certainly the owner’s prerogative to adopt a general no-endorsement policy, and it might well have been reasonable if it had been done outside of the political cycle (such endorsements long ago stopped swaying voters), but coming 11 days before the election, it gave the appearance of cowering before a wannabe dictator to protect Bezos’s business interests—particularly because Donald Trump met with executives from Bezos’s aerospace company, Blue Origin, the same day.”

Executives from Bezos’ space exploration company Blue Origin met with Trump on October 25, the same day the non-endorsement was announced, Kagan told the Daily Beast on Saturday.

“Trump waited to make sure that Bezos did what he said he was going to do – and then met with the Blue Origin people,” Kagan said.

Newsweek has contacted teams for Trump and Amazon and Blue Origin, on behalf of Bezos, via email, for comment.

Election Night Live will stream globally on Prime Video and will be free to watch for all Amazon customers.